The tang dynasty was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of Sui Empire. The tang dynasty was briefly interrupted by the second Zheu Dynasty and would later get back on track. The capital during the Tang dynasty was Chang'an, the most populous city in the world at the time, records estimate the population of 50 million people in the 8th century and in the 9th century almost 80 million. Very stable era for the Tang dynasty, China flourished during this period and the decline starts late in the 8th century. This is consider to be a Golden age for Chinese literature and art, literature was done on wooden blocks and there were two types of poetry during and two main types of religion, the two most popular being buddhism and confucianism. In 845 Emperor Wezong of Tang shuts down 4,600 Buddhist monasteries, 40,000 temples and forced 260,000 monks and nuns to return to secular life. The Tang dynasty finally comes to an end in the 9th century.